The technology has done all it can to help you stay healthy.  However, you are the one who make the decision to live healthy.  If you don’t take action, no health gadgets can help.

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Wireless Glucose Meter

A wireless glucose meter reached the semi-finals in the “Last Gadget Standing” competition at CES, showcasing the growing consumer appeal of mobile health devices.

The Telcare company’s BGM is the world’s first cellular-enabled glucose meter, and one of the first wireless medical gadgets to garner widespread recognition in the consumer electronics field.

The device placed seventh in a popular vote at CES, ranking as high as entries from major companies such as Sony, Samsung and Epson, highlighting its mass appeal.

The device works like a traditional blood sugar meter. A user inserts a test trip into a slot on the device, pricks a finger to get a drop of blood, then touches the drop to the strip and waits for the meter to read glucose level.

What the meter does next sets it apart. The Telcare BGM then sends results to a secure online database using an internal, wireless modem, and users, physicians, family members or caregivers can access and comment on them.

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The Droid 4 has been given that auspicious, audacious title, and offers access to a 4G network that spans 200 million people in 190 markets. It is expected to work at speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps.

How thin are we talking? Somehow, they’ve crammed a a five-row QWERTY keyboard with edge-lit keys into half an inch. And inside,it has a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM, as well as 16 GB of internal memory, with support for up to a 32 GB microSD card. It’s meant to appeal to business users, with its “government-grade encryption to keep data secure.” For those who don’t want to carry more gear, it comes with an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD video capture. The mirror mode allows user to display images and video on an HDTV.

It’s built to be a little tough, with a scratch and scrape resistant glass 4-inch qHD display and water-repellent nanocoating just in case you spill something on it. (And wipe quickly. Very, very quickly.)  Underneath the screen, MotoCast allows for “remote streaming of photos, videos, music, documents, presentations and more from home or office computers.” As is practically a norm now, it can also be used as a 4G LTE mobile hotspot that can support up to 8 other Wi-Fi’d devices.

It’ll be available in a few weeks, and while it’ll be powered by Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, it is on the list to be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The other two new Droids, the Razr in Purple and Razr Maxx, will also run on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network and be on the same upgrade schedule.

For fans of the Baltimore Ravens or Prince (or anyone who happens to just like a little variety in their smartphone color), the Razr in Purple will be a treat, but it’ll be basically the same Droid Razr that’s been out for awhile, which is to say it’s been well received and reviewed. With the usual 2-year obligation, it’ll run you $200 when it comes out in the next few weeks.

Finally, in a few weeks, we’ll see the Droid Razr Maxx, which Motorola is calling “the overachiever” of the Razr family for its 21 hours of talk-time and petite figure: 8.99 mm (here in the U.S., that means 0.3 inches). It comes with 32 GB of total memory and will cost $300 with a new two-year customer agreement.

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The Powerbag allows users to charge their smartphones and laptops while carrying them around. Picture: AFP / Frederic J. Brown
Source: AdelaideNow

WE ALL know how frustrating it can be when your smartphone dies at a crucial moment. How about charging it on the run?

That’s the promise of Powerbag, a backpack equipped with a built-in battery that is one of the thousands of new products going on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

“It will charge all smartphones. It will charge all tablets, all e-readers, Bluetooth devices,” said Dan Kurzon, vice president of sales for Powerbag, at a preview event for exhibitors at the annual hi-tech gadget extravaganza.

“Let’s say I have a bunch of devices,” Mr Kurzon said. “I have an iPhone, an iPad, a BlackBerry.

“I get to my hotel, I load up the bag with all those different devices and I plug it into the wall,” he said. “It’s going to charge up those devices and it’s going to charge up the battery on the bag.”

Powerbag began selling the battery-equipped bags in October and offers several different styles, from a standard backpack to a messenger bag with a single shoulder strap to a rolling briefcase.

Up to four mobile devices can be charged at once using the bags which feature 3000 mAh, 6000 mAh or 9000 mAh batteries depending on the style.

Powerbags, which are made by RFA Brands, start at $US140 ($137) with the most expensive retailing for $US250.

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Consumer Electronics Association research director Shawn DuBravac forecast trends for the world’s biggest gadget show ahead of its official launch today, when industry heavy-hitters such as LG, Samsung, Sony, Motorola and Intel are expected to show off key new technology for the coming year.

Mr DuBravac said home entertainment would be a major focus for CES this year, with manufacturers showing off super-thin OLED televisions, 3D TVs that can be viewed without glasses, and screens offering twice the resolution of current full high-definition displays.

LG has already confirmed it will show off a 55-inch organic LED television that, at just 4mm thin, is thinner than most smartphones.

Other companies are expected to show off televisions with a resolution of 4000 x 2000 pixels for super-crisp images.

Mr DuBravac said while 100 tablets launched at CES last year, the focus would shift to 4G mobile phones this year, taking advantage of faster phone networks being launched throughout the world, including Australia.

“I would argue that last year was the strongest wireless show at CES and I expect more phones to launch this year than in any prior year,” DuBravac said.

“The introduction of quad-core phones and 4G phones are really making these devices more like pocketable computers.”

Devices that use users’ voices and movements are also expected to be unveiled at the Las Vegas show, he said.

“You’ve seen, for example, Microsoft make available the (software) for its Kinect device so users can begin to create their own use scenarios for those devices,” Mr DuBravac said.

“LG is also rumoured to be integrating voice controls into its Magic Wand TV remote control this year.”

Other big trends for CES include the launch of up to 50 ultra-thin laptop computers and 50 new tablet computers.

GfK boutique research global business director Steve Bambridge said these new devices would push consumer technology spending over $1 trillion for the first time.

“At the same time as we’re having big economic issues in the US and Europe we’ve had some really strong product markets. Smartphones, tablet PCs are really driving growth,” he said.

“It is that growth that is set to continue through 2012 and keep up this trajectory.”

GfK predicts consumers will buy more than 96 million tablet computers in 2012, though Mr Bambridge said there was a “reasonable chance” the figure could top 100 million.

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The Consumer Electronics Association is now calling its yearly show the International Consumer Electronics Show, rather than the Consumer Electronics Show, to reflect the convention’s global audience, it says. Last year, more than 25,000 of the 149,000 attendees came from outside the U.S.

The association is expecting more than 140,000 people to attend this year’s show, said Jason Oxman, senior vice president of industry affairs. And when measured by square footage, the 2012 show, which runs Jan. 10-13, is on track to be the second-largest in the association’s history, coming close to the 1.85 million square feet booked in 2007. That’s a lot of TVs, gaming systems, karaoke machines and robot butlers.

Here’s a preview of the gadgets that are expected to generate buzz at this year’s convention:

Ultrabooks

Apple Inc. turned heads four years ago with the MacBook Air, a laptop so thin it could slide into a Manila envelope. Now, chip-maker Intel Corp. is pushing a new line of Ultrabooks: lightweight laptops with full operating systems that are generally no more than an inch thick, wake instantly and have long battery lives. Several models from manufacturers such as Asus, Acer, Toshiba and Lenovo hit the market in late 2011, but many more are expected to go on sale in 2012 for under $1,000.

“The PC is a must-have device, but it’s a boring, beige-and-black utility device,” said Karen Regis, director of Ultrabook marketing strategy at Intel. In contrast, she said, Ultrabooks have a sleek design and functionality that are meant to appeal to consumers’ emotions as much as their practical needs.

Oxman said the Consumer Electronics Association expects at least 30 or 40 Ultrabooks will be introduced at the show. The buzz around this category is similar to the excitement around tablets at the 2011 show, when more than 100 tablets debuted.

“The Ultrabook is the reinvention of the laptop in an era where the tablet is popular and lightweight (but) doesn’t necessarily have all the processing capability and certainly not the physical keyboard capability that an Ultrabook would,” Oxman said.

The Ultrabook is also expected to outshine netbooks, which have smaller screens and less processing power.

“I tried using a netbook once,” said Jon Abt, co-president of Glenview retailer Abt Electronics, who has been using an Ultrabook from Asus. “An Ultrabook is a real computer. It does everything.”

Ultrabooks are projected to represent 13 percent of notebook shipments in 2012, rising to 43 percent in 2015, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.

HDTVs

Despite an abundance of hype at previous Consumer Electronics Shows, 3-D TVs haven’t caught on among mainstream consumers. Oxman noted that TV sales declined in 2011, partly because so many households bought new sets during the transition from analog to digital broadcasts in 2009.

Manufacturers are now trying a new tack: including 3-D as one of several features on a new generation of high-end 4K TV sets that boast four times the resolution of 1080p HD. Superior image quality, rather than the ability to watch 3-D, is expected to be the primary selling point.

“It’s startling, especially on large-screen TVs where you can see individual hairs on a person’s head,” said Andrew Eisner, director of community and content at Retrevo, a consumer electronics shopping and review site.

Web connectivity continues to be a major theme among TV manufacturers and content providers. Technology companies such as Apple and Google Inc. are also trying to break into the living room, making the TV another screen that connects to the Internet and delivers Web-based applications.

Abt said his stores saw “massive sell-through” on Black Friday for discounted Sony sets with Google TV, but time will tell whether consumers will stay interested in the service without promotional pricing.

“What we’ve been pushing here at the retail level … is Internet applications on the television,” Abt said. “I think you’ll see more of that at the show, certainly better and more Web browsing directly on the TV.”

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